How Does Your Understanding of Attachment Theory and...

How does your understanding of attachment theory and maternal deprivation inform your understanding of nursing/midwifery practice? â€Å"The relationship between mothers and infants is critical for child development. For whatever reason, in some cases, that relationship doesn’t develop normally. Neglect and abuse can result, with devastating effects on a child’s development† (Strathearn, 2008) A psychological perspective of attachment is a term to describe a reciprocal emotional tie that develops over time. There are many developmental theories relating themselves to attachment and deprivation and many arguments over the nature-nurture debate. However, the name that comes to the forefront of most minds when speaking of this topic is†¦show more content†¦Parents in a study using ultrasound scans explained their natural desire to see, and know their baby before birth. In addition to receiving reassurance of the baby s health, the majority of the mothers felt that seeing their baby on the screen or looking at pictures, created a closer relationship between them and their unborn child. (Pretorious 2005) It is also clear from the emotional and psychological effects of miscarriage, termination and stillbirth that attachments are formed with the fetus. (Friedman and Gradstein 1982) What attachment is, and when it commences, has been encapsulated, the next logical step is to look at how and why attachments are made. Bowlby (1969) believed that attachment is innate. Infants who form attachments are more likely to survive and reproduce and so, through evolution, the attachment gene is naturally selected and infants are born with an innate programming. Bowlby argued that something similar to the imprinting Konrad Lorenz (1952) discovered in hand reared goslings might occur in humans. Babies cannot follow their mothers everywhere but they do follow with their eyes, smile, cling, suck and cry, he believed that using this adaptive behaviour is how attachment is promoted. These social releasers elicit a care giving reaction from others around them and the infant becomes